Wild berries at Harriman State Park. It took two of us a half hour to gather six cups of huckleberries, blueberries and blackberries. ©www.myharriman.com
I apologize for going on about the berries.
Wild Berries: A Bumper Year
But others have confirmed what I suspected about this year’s crop: compared to past years, there are lots. And lots.
The picture that goes with this posts is of six cups of berries that we used to make two pies. There are equal amounts of huckleberries and blueberries, with some red raspberries and black raspberries thrown in.
They were picked in a little under a half-hour near the south end of Lake Welch, and the reds were gathered from Rockefeller Preserve, in Tarrytown.
(By the way: the western side of Westchester County must have been really prickly at one time: Thornwood, Hawthorne, Briarcliff. But it still is. At the moment, it’s covered with red raspberries in another bumper crop. They’re growing in ditches, gullies, open fields, and in every public park in the area. Find them in Rockefeller Preserve and near the two reservoirs of Tarrytown)
Huckleberries, which are notoriously time-consuming to pick, are easier this year because they grow in very full clusters, which you can gently twist to separate the ripe berries from their stems and unripe berries, leaving them to ripen.
Make A Harriman Berry Pie
The best pies I’ve ever had come from using fruit I’ve picked myself. Maybe it’s because you can spend a great day picking, then exploring or hiking — but you’re out there in the world that’s created these berries.
My favorite recipe for berry pies is a very simple one that lets the fruit flavor really shine — it’s not too sweet but has just the right amount of sugar. Here’s the link to the recipe (I omit the lemon juice — these berries have the right amount of tartness, and sometimes the lemon juice can change the berry flavor).
We used all four varieties of berries — six cups was enough for two 8-inch pies, with vanilla ice cream.
